Image-based product marketing systems and methods

ABSTRACT

An exemplary method includes a product marketing system receiving, from an access device, a product search request and image data representative of an image associated with a product, searching, in response to the product search request, a repository of product image data to identify at least one match to the image associated with the product, generating, based on the at least one match, search results data comprising product information for at least one product, and transmitting the search results data to the access device. Corresponding systems and methods are also described.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/768,997, filed Apr. 28, 2010, and entitledIMAGE-BASED PRODUCT MARKETING SYSTEMS AND METHODS, which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Advancements in communication technologies have changed the way thatmany consumers shop for and purchase products and services. For example,a consumer who is interested in a particular product may use theInternet to search for information and/or availability of the product.Using a computer, the consumer may browse to a particular websiteassociated with an organization that sells the product, or the consumermay access an Internet search engine and initiate a keyword search forinformation about the product.

However, such shopping techniques are not well-suited for all consumersor situations. For example, a consumer may not be aware of a particularwebsite to which to browse to access information about a product, or theconsumer may not know or may not be able to readily think of keywordsthat will lead an Internet search engine to produce relevant and helpfulresults. To illustrate, a consumer may see a particular product in whichshe is interested but may not know enough about the product toeffectively utilize conventional shopping techniques to locateinformation about the product.

In addition, a keyword search performed by a conventional Internetsearch engine may produce results that are undesirable to the consumerand/or a marketer of a product. For example, the results may includeinformation that is not relevant or helpful to the consumer's interestin the product. The results may also include information that a marketerof the product would prefer that the consumer not see, such as incorrector outdated information about the product or a different product.

For at least these reasons, marketers and/or consumers would benefitfrom improved and/or news tools for marketing products and services.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings illustrate various embodiments and are a partof the specification. The illustrated embodiments are merely examplesand do not limit the scope of the disclosure. Throughout the drawings,identical or similar reference numbers designate identical or similarelements.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary product marketing system according toprinciples described herein.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary implementation of the system of FIG. 1according to principles described herein.

FIG. 3 illustrates another exemplary implementation of the system ofFIG. 1 according to principles described herein.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary product marketing method according toprinciples described herein.

FIG. 5 illustrates another exemplary product marketing method accordingto principles described herein.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary camera image view in a graphical userinterface displayed by an access device according to principlesdescribed herein.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary product search view in a graphical userinterface displayed by an access device according to principlesdescribed herein.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary search results view in a graphical userinterface displayed by an access device according to principlesdescribed herein.

FIG. 9 illustrates another exemplary product marketing method accordingto principles described herein.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary computing device according toprinciples described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Exemplary product marketing systems and methods are described herein.The exemplary systems and methods may provide a product marketing and/orshopping platform having improved and/or new tools for marketingproducts or services, which tools may provide consumers with improvedconvenience and/or options for shopping for products or services. Forinstance, the exemplary products or services may provide an option tosearch for product information based on an image associated with aproduct (e.g., an image of a product). To illustrate, in certainexamples, a consumer may come across a product. The consumer may utilizean access device having a camera to capture an image of a product (e.g.,a photograph of a product) on the fly. The image of the product may beused to search a repository of product image data and to identify one ormore product images that match the image of the product. One or moreproducts associated with the matching product images may be identifiedand product information for the one or more products inserted in productsearch results data, which may be presented to the consumer for use bythe consumer in shopping for the product.

As used herein, the term “consumer” may refer generally to anyindividual or organization that purchases or may potentially purchase orotherwise consume products and/or services. The term “marketer” as usedherein may refer generally to any individual or organization that sells,markets, advertises, manufactures, distributes, or otherwise provides orpromotes products and/or services for consumption and/or for furtherdistribution. The term “product” as used hereinafter may refer generallyto any product or service that may be consumed, purchased, or otherwiseused by a consumer.

Exemplary embodiments of product marketing systems and methods will nowbe described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary product marketing system 100 (or simply“system 100”). While an exemplary system 100 is shown in FIG. 1, thecomponents and configuration of system 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 are notintended to be limiting. Additional or alternative components and/orconfigurations may be used in other embodiments. In certain alternativeembodiments, for example, one or more of the components shown in FIG. 1may be omitted or combined.

System 100 may include, but is not limited to, a communication facility102, a product data management facility 104, a user interface facility106, a search facility 108, an image matching facility 110, and a datastorage facility 112 selectively and communicatively coupled one toanother. Any suitable communication technologies, including any of thecommunication technologies mentioned herein, may be employed tofacilitate communications between facilities 102-112.

Communication facility 102 may be configured to communicate with one ormore computing devices. For example, communication facility 102 may beconfigured to transmit and/or receive communication signals and/or datato/from a user access device. Examples of communication facility 102include, without limitation, a wired network interface (such as anetwork interface card), a wireless network interface (such as awireless network interface card), a modem, an optical fiber networkterminal, and any other suitable interface.

Additionally or alternatively, communication facility 102 may beconfigured to facilitate communications between one or more of thefacilities 104-112 shown in FIG. 1 and/or with one or more applicationsexecuting on a computing device. For example, communication facility 102may include one or more application program interfaces configured toallow system 100 to interface with one or more applications executing ona computing device. To illustrate, a computing device may include animage capture application associated with a camera, and communicationfacility 102 may facilitate communications between system 100 and theimage capture application, including receiving image data representativeof a captured image (e.g., a photo) from the image capture application.

Product data management facility 104 may be configured to receive,store, aggregate, organize, maintain, and/or otherwise manage productdata. Product data may include any data representative of or otherwiseassociated with one or more products. For example, product data mayinclude, without limitation, product identifiers (e.g., product names,models, serial numbers, etc.), product descriptions, product reviews,product ratings, product vendor information, hyperlinks to vendorwebsites, product image data representative of one or more images ofand/or associated with a product, product availability information,product promotional information (e.g., products deals, offers,discounts, price comparisons, coupons, and advertisements), productmetadata, and/or any other information related to a product and/orproduct vendor. The product data may be stored in a repository ofproduct data within data storage facility 112 as product data 114. Therepository of product data may include a repository of product imagedata stored within data storage facility 112 as product image data 116.As described in more detail further below, in some examples, productdata management facility 104 may be configured to receive product dataassociated with one or more products from one or more sources of productdata, such as marketers and/or access devices associated with marketers,and aggregate and store the received product data in a repository ofproduct data within data storage facility 112.

The repository of product data may be dynamic, meaning that marketersmay be able to dynamically provide and manage (e.g., update) the productdata in the repository. Accordingly, the product data may subject tocaptive control by the marketers and may include product informationthat the marketers wish to be presented to consumers.

User interface facility 106 may be configured to provide one or moreuser interfaces configured to facilitate user interaction with system100. For example, user interface facility 106 may provide a userinterface through which one or more functions, options, features, and/ortools may be provided to a user and through which user input may bereceived. In certain embodiments, user interface facility 106 may beconfigured to provide one or more product data management tools in auser interface (i.e., a marketer interface) for use by a marketer andone or more product search and/or shopping tools in a user interface(i.e., a consumer interface) for use by a consumer. Accordingly, throughone or more user interfaces provided by user interface facility 106,system 100 may receive product data from one or more marketers and/orproduct search requests and associated search parameters (e.g., imagedata representative of a product image, keyword data, product categorydata, geographic location data, etc.) from one or more consumers. System100 may also provide product search results data to a consumer by way ofa user interface. Exemplary graphical user interfaces that may beprovided by user interface facility 106 are described in detail furtherbelow.

Search facility 108 may be configured to search a repository of productdata maintained in data storage facility 112 by product data managementfacility 104 for one or more matches to search parameters associatedwith a product search request. The search may be based on searchparameters including, without limitation, image data representative ofan image associated with a product (e.g., an image of a product),keyword data representative of one or more keywords, product categorydata representative of a product category, location data representativeof a geographic location or area, and any combination or sub-combinationthereof. Search facility 108 may be configured to search product data inaccordance with a search heuristic, which may define one or moreconditions to be satisfied in order for a match to be determined toexist. The search heuristic may specify an order by which searchparameters may be considered and used to search various fields (e.g.,image and/or data fields) in the repository of product data. The searchheuristic, including the match conditions and/or order of parametersearching specified therein, may be defined as may suit a particularimplementation.

Search facility 108 may be further configured to generate search resultsdata based on one or more matches identified by a search of productdata. For example, when a match is located, search facility 108 maydetermine a product associated with the match, retrieve productinformation for the product, and insert the product information insearch results data. The product information may be retrieved fromproduct data in data storage facility 112 and/or from one or moreexternal sources.

Search results data may include any information associated with one ormore products determined to match search parameters specified by asearch request. For example, search results data may include, withoutlimitation, product information such as product identifiers (e.g.,product names, models, serial numbers, etc.), product descriptions,product reviews, product ratings, product vendor information, hyperlinks(e.g., hyperlinks to vendor websites), product image data representativeof one or more images of and/or associated with a product, productavailability information, product promotional information, and/or anyother information related to a product. The search results data may bestored in data storage facility 112 as search results data 118.

In certain embodiments, search facility 108 may be configured to invokeone or more operations of image matching facility 110 in conjunctionwith a product search that is based at least in part on an imageassociated with a product. Image matching facility 110 may be configuredto analyze image data and determine from the analysis whether an imagematches another image. Image matching facility 110 may perform theanalysis and determine whether a match exists between images inaccordance with an image matching heuristic, which may define one ormore conditions of an image match. The image matching heuristic,including the match conditions specified therein, may be defined tofacilitate detection of matching products represented in differentimages and as may suit a particular implementation.

Image matching facility 110 may employ any suitable image matchingtechnologies to analyze images and determine whether the images match.For example, image matching facility 110 may analyze pixel attributes(e.g., color, brightness, saturation, etc.), patterns of pixelattributes, and any other image data to identify product characteristicswithin images (e.g., product shapes, logos, etc.). Identified productcharacteristics may then be compared between images and used todetermine whether product characteristics are shared between the images.If a minimum threshold of commonality exists, as defined by the imagematching heuristic, image matching facility 110 may determine that theimages match.

In certain embodiments, image matching facility 110 may be configured toconvert image formats. For example, image matching facility 110 may beconfigured to convert an image to a particular format to be used tocompare the image to one or more other images. The conversion may beconfigured so as to take into account variations that may exist betweenimages and/or image formats, such as varying sizes and pixelconfigurations. Various image formats (e.g., JPEG, GIF, BMP, etc.) maybe converted or otherwise supported in certain examples.

To facilitate opportunities for image matches to be discovered, amarketer may provide one or more images associated with a product andthat are configured to represent various views of the product. Forexample, product image data 116 may represent a full three-dimensionalview of the product by way of a three-hundred-sixty-degree view of theproduct or by multiple images representing multiple views of the productfrom various viewpoints (e.g., side views, front view, back view, topview, bottom view, and/or perspective views).

Data storage facility 112 may be configured to maintain product data114, product image data 116, search results data 118, user profile data120, and any other data as may serve a particular application. Userprofile data 120 may include any data associated with profiles and/orpreferences of users (e.g., consumers and/or marketers) accessing system100. User profile data 120 may be utilized to selectively provide one ormore user interfaces and/or tools to users based on the user profiledata 120 (e.g., by verifying permissions and/or user credentials beforegranting a user access to a user interface). User profile data 120 maybe further utilized in conjunction with saving and maintaining recordsof search requests and/or search results as historical data associatedwith users.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary implementation 200 of system 100. Asshown in FIG. 2, implementation 200 may include a product marketingserver subsystem 202 (or simply “product subsystem 202”) selectively andcommunicatively coupled to a plurality of user access devices 204 (e.g.,access devices 204-1 through 204-N).

Access devices 204 and product subsystem 202 may communicate using anycommunication platforms and technologies suitable for transporting dataand/or communication signals, including known communicationtechnologies, devices, media, and protocols supportive of remote datacommunications, examples of which include, but are not limited to, datatransmission media, communications devices, Transmission ControlProtocol (“TCP”), Internet Protocol (“IP”), File Transfer Protocol(“FTP”), Telnet, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”), HypertextTransfer Protocol Secure (“HTTPS”), Session Initiation Protocol (“SIP”),Simple Object Access Protocol (“SOAP”), Extensible Mark-up Language(“XML”) and variations thereof, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (“SMTP”),Real-Time Transport Protocol (“RTP”), User Datagram Protocol (“UDP”),Global System for Mobile Communications (“GSM”) technologies, CodeDivision Multiple Access (“CDMA”) technologies, Time Division MultipleAccess (“TDMA”) technologies, Short Message Service (“SMS”), MultimediaMessage Service (“MMS”), radio frequency (“RF”) signaling technologies,wireless communication technologies, in-band and out-of-band signalingtechnologies, and other suitable communications networks andtechnologies.

In certain embodiments, access devices 204 and product subsystem 202 maycommunicate via a network 206, which may include one or more networks,including, but not limited to, wireless networks (Wi-Fi networks),(e.g., wireless communication networks), mobile telephone networks(e.g., cellular telephone networks), closed media networks, open medianetworks, closed communication networks, open communication networks,satellite networks, navigation networks, broadband networks, narrowbandnetworks, voice communication networks (e.g., VoIP networks), theInternet, and any other networks capable of carrying data and/orcommunications signals between access devices 204 and product subsystem202. Communications between product subsystem 202 and access devices 204may be transported using any one of above-listed networks, or anycombination or sub-combination of the above-listed networks. In certainexemplary embodiments, network 206 includes a mobile telephone network.

Access devices 204 may be associated with a plurality of users 208(e.g., users 208-1 through 208-N), which in certain embodiments may besubscribers to or end users of one or more services (e.g., a wirelesstelephone service, a product search service, and/or a shopping assistantservice) provided over network 206. A user 208 may include a consumer ora marketer. Product subsystem 202 may maintain user profile data 120representative of user profiles for users of access devices 204 andutilize the user profiles to selectively provide product marketing,search, and/or shopping tools, as described herein.

An access device 204 may include any device configured to perform one ormore of the access device operations described herein, includingcommunicating with product subsystem 202 by way of network 206. Accessdevice 204 may include, but is not limited to, a wireless computingdevice, a personal computer, a wireless communication device (e.g., amobile telephone configured to access one or more services provided overnetwork 206), a portable computing device (e.g., a laptop computer), aportable communication device, a personal digital assistant, a vehicularcomputing and/or communication device, a vehicle (e.g., an automobile),a portable navigation device, a Global Positioning System (“GPS”)device, a personal media player device, a mobile computing devicetethered to a personal computer or vice versa, a television, aset-top-box device, and/or any other access device configured to performone or more of the access device operations described herein. In certainembodiments, access device 204 may include a camera and/or other imagecapture capabilities.

In certain embodiments, access devices 204 may be associated withheterogeneous communication platforms, and product subsystem 202 may beconfigured to communicate with each of the heterogeneous platforms.Accordingly, various types of access devices 204 associated with variouscommunication platforms may be used by consumers to access one or moreof the features and/or processes described herein.

Product subsystem 202 may include one or more computing devices (e.g.,one or more server devices) implementing one or more components ofsystem 100. In certain embodiments, system 100 may be implementedentirely by or within product subsystem 202. In other embodiments,components of system 100 may be distributed across product subsystem 202and access devices 204. For example, an access device 204 may include aclient (e.g., a client application) implementing one or more components(e.g., user interface facility 106) of system 100.

FIG. 3 illustrates another exemplary implementation 300 of system 100.As shown in FIG. 3, implementation 300 may include product subsystem 202in communication with a plurality of access devices 302 (e.g., accessdevices 302-1 through 302-N) in the form of mobile devices, such asmobile phones, associated with a plurality of consumers 304 (e.g.,consumers 304-1 through 304-N) and with a plurality of access devices306 (e.g., access devices 306-1 through 306-N) in the form of personalcomputers associated with a plurality of marketers 308 (e.g., marketers308-1 through 308-N) via network 206.

In implementation 300, marketers 308 may utilize access devices 306 toprovide (e.g., upload) product data representative of or otherwiseassociated with one or more products to product subsystem 202, which maystore, aggregate, organize, and/or maintain the product data in arepository of product data as described above. Marketers 308 may alsoutilize access devices 306 to manage product data maintained in productsubsystem 202. For example, a marketer 308 may modify (e.g., update) ordelete the product data.

Consumers 304 may utilize access devices 302 to access product datamaintained by product subsystem 202. Where access devices 302 comprisemobile devices such as mobile phones, many consumers 304 typically carrytheir access devices 302 wherever they go. An access device 302 beingcarried by a consumer 304 may provide improved conveniences and/orefficiencies for accessing product data from any location at which amobile device has a connection with product subsystem 202. Accordingly,a consumer 304 may access one or more tools provided by system 100 frommyriad locations and situations. For example, while at a socialgathering, running an errand, or otherwise on the go, consumer 304-1 maynotice a product in which consumer 304-1 is interested. Using accessdevice 302-1, consumer 304-1 may capture a photograph image of theproduct and access one or more tools provided by system 100 to searchfor and access information about the product, based on the image of theproduct. System 100 may retrieve product information from the repositoryof product data 114 and/or product image data 116 maintained in datastorage facility 112 and provide the retrieved information to accessdevice 302-1 for presentation to consumer 304-1. Examples of graphicaluser interfaces (“GUIs”) that may be displayed to a consumer and thatare configured to facilitate access to and presentation of productinformation are described further below.

Several exemplary product marketing methods will now be described. Whilethe methods are described in accordance with certain exemplaryembodiments, other embodiments may omit, add to, reorder, combine,and/or modify any of the exemplary methods or steps in the exemplarymethods. One or more of the exemplary methods or steps in the exemplarymethods may be performed by system 100, one or more components of system100, product subsystem 202, and/or access devices 204, 302, and/or 306.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary product marketing method 400. In step402, a user interface including at least one tool configured tofacilitate management of product data associated with one or moreproducts is provided. For example, user interface facility 106 mayprovide a user interface, such as a GUI, having at least one toolconfigured to facilitate user management of product data. The userinterface may be provided to a marketer. Accordingly, through the userinterface, the marketer may upload, modify, delete, or otherwise manageproduct data. The user interface may also allow the marketer to definesettings configured to control what, when, and/or how product data ispresented to consumers.

In step 404, product data associated with one or more products isreceived. For example, user interface facility 106 may receive productdata through the user interface provided in step 402. The product datamay include product image data representative of one or more imagesassociated with one or more products. For instance, a marketer mayupload one or more images of a product, and user interface facility 106may receive image data representative of the images through the userinterface.

In step 406, the product data received in step 402 is aggregated,stored, and maintained in a repository of product data. For example,product data management facility 104 may receive product data from userinterface facility 106 and aggregate, store, and maintain the productdata in data storage facility 112.

In step 408, the product data is distributed. For example, system 100may receive a product search request from an access device 204 or 302,search product data based on one or more parameters of the searchrequest to identify one or more matches, generate search results dataincluding the product data, and transmit the search results data to theaccess device 204 or 302 in response to the request.

In step 410, feedback data is provided to a marketer. For example,product data management facility 104 may generate feedback datadescriptive of the distribution of the product data in step 408. Thefeedback data may be provided to the marketer (e.g., via an accessdevice 204 or 306 associated with the marketer). The feedback data mayinclude any information that may be helpful to the marketer. Forexample, the feedback data may include that a product represented insearch results data provided in step 408 is unavailable. Thisinformation may help the marketer know when to make adjustments such asby providing more product inventory.

FIG. 5 illustrates another exemplary product marketing method 500. Instep 502, an image associated with a product is received. For example,communication facility 102 of system 100 may receive image datarepresentative of an image from an external source such as anothercomputing device and/or an application executing on a computing device.The image data may be received in any suitable form and/or using anysuitable communication technologies, including, without limitation, amedia messaging service message and an e-mail message.

In certain embodiments, step 502 may include an access device 204 or 302capturing an image of a product. For example, access device 204 or 302may include a camera that captures the image of the product. A cameraapplication executing on the access device 204 or 302 may provide datarepresentative of the captured image to communication facility 102 ofsystem 100. To illustrate, FIG. 6 shows an exemplary GUI 600 displayedby an access device 302. GUI 600 includes an exemplary camera image view602 displaying data representative of a captured image 604 of a product606 (e.g., an image of a toy train) as captured by the access device302.

Returning to FIG. 5, in step 504, a user interface including at leastone tool configured to facilitate user definition of a product searchrequest is provided. For example, user interface facility 106 mayprovide a GUI including at least one tool configured to facilitate userdefinition of a product search request.

To illustrate, FIG. 7 shows an exemplary GUI 700 displayed by an accessdevice 302 and having a set of tools 702 configured to facilitate userdefinition of a product search request. The set of tools 702 may assista consumer in specifying one or more search parameters for the productsearch request. In the illustrated example, the set of tools 702includes an image parameter tool 704, a category parameter tool 706, akeyword parameter tool 708, and a location parameter tool 710.

Image parameter tool 704 may be configured to facilitate user selectionof an image to be used as a search parameter of the product searchrequest. Image parameter tool 704 may provide any suitable mechanismthat may be utilized by a consumer to select an image that is stored orotherwise accessible by access device 302. For example, image parametertool 704 may allow the consumer to search or browse one or more imagesthat are stored or accessible by access device 302.

In FIG. 7, image parameter tool 704 includes a display of a thumbnailimage representing an image that is currently selected to be used as asearch parameter of the product search request. The image may bemanually selected by a consumer as described above. Alternatively, theimage may be automatically selected and associated with the imageparameter tool 704 by system 100 in response to a predetermined event.For example, in response to the image being captured by the accessdevice 302 in step 502, system 100 may automatically associate thecaptured image with the image parameter tool 704 such that the image maybe used as a search parameter in a product search. In certainembodiments, in response to the image being captured by the accessdevice 302 in step 502, system 100 may automatically launch and/ordisplay GUI 700 as shown in FIG. 7.

Category parameter tool 706 may be configured to facilitate userselection of a product category to be used as a search parameter of theproduct search request. Accordingly, a consumer may search or browseproduct categories and select one of the product categories to be usedas a search parameter of the product search request. Product categoriesmay be defined by system 100 to include an aggregation of productcategories specified in product data received from marketers.Additionally or alternatively, an operator of system 100 may defineproduct categories. Examples of product categories may include, withoutlimitation, apparel, accessories, fruits, flowers, greens, books,electronics, gifts, grocery, health, beauty, jewelry, sports, fitness,games, toys, cameras, camcorders, computers, televisions, videoequipment, gifts, phones, office, software, hardware, furniture, and anyother category or categories of products.

Keyword parameter tool 708 may be configured to facilitate userselection and/or entry of one or more keywords to be used as searchparameters of the product search request. Accordingly, a consumer maysearch, browse, or enter one or more keywords to be used as searchparameters of the product search request.

Location parameter tool 710 may be configured to facilitate userselection or entry of a location identifier (e.g., a zip code) to beused as a search parameter of the product search request. Accordingly, aconsumer may select or enter a location to be used as a search parameterof the product search request. In certain embodiments, system 100 may beconfigured to automatically populate location parameter tool 710 with alocation identifier associated with the consumer and/or access device302. For example, the access device 302 may be equipped with GlobalPositioning System or other location detecting capabilities, and system100 may populate location parameter tool 710 based on the currentgeographic location of the access device 302.

Using the set of tools 702, a consumer may specify one or more searchparameters to be used in a product search. After the consumer hasspecified the search parameters, which may be any combination orsub-combination of the image, category, keyword, and location parametersdescribed above, the consumer may submit the search parameters to system100 by selecting a “Go” button 712 displayed in GUI 700.

Returning to FIG. 5, in step 506, user input may be received. The userinput may be configured to initiate the product search request. Forexample, user interface facility 106 of system 100 may receive the userinput in response to the consumer selecting the “Go” button 712 shown inFIG. 7. The user input may specify one or more search parameters,including one or more search parameters specified by the consumer usingthe set of tools 702 in GUI 700.

In step 508, the product search request is generated in response to theuser input received in step 506. For example, search facility 108 ofsystem 100 may generate data representative of the product searchrequest in response to the user input. The product search request mayspecify one or more search parameters to be used to search product data.

In step 510, data representative of the product search request istransmitted. For example, access device 204 or 302 may transmit datarepresentative of the product search request to product subsystem 202for use in searching the repository of product data 114 and/or productimage data 116 in data storage facility 112 to identify one or morematches to the one or more search parameters specified in the productsearch request. Product subsystem 202 may receive the product searchrequest and perform the search in any of the ways described herein.

In step 512, product search results data associated with the productsearch request is received. For example, the access device 204 or 302may receive the product search results data from product subsystem 202.The product search results data may be generated by the productsubsystem 202 in any of the ways described herein.

In step 514, the product search results data may be presented. Forexample, the access device 204 or 302 may display the product searchresults data for consideration by the consumer. To illustrate, FIG. 8shows an exemplary GUI 800 displayed by an access device 302 andincluding a search results view 802 having the product search resultsdata displayed therein. As shown, the product search results datadisplayed in search results view 802 may include product informationrelated to one or more products that have been identified as matches tothe search parameters of the product search request. In the illustratedexample, the product search results data includes a list of entriesproviding information about the matching products, including productimages, vendor information, promotional descriptions, productdescriptions, product prices, and hyperlinks to additional informationabout the products, vendor websites, and/or product purchase interfaces.Other product information may be presented in other examples.

In some examples, system 100 may be configured to identify relatedproducts in which the consumer may be interested and provide a way forthe consumer to access information about the related products. In FIG.8, for example, a hyperlink 804 may be displayed notifying the consumerthat information about related products is available.

FIG. 9 illustrates another exemplary product marketing method 900. Instep 902, a repository of product data is maintained. Step 902 may beperformed in any of the ways described above. For example, product datamanagement facility 104 may maintain a repository of product data 114 indata storage facility 112. In certain embodiments, the repository ofproduct data may include or be associated with a repository of productimage data 116.

In step 904, a product search request is received from an access device204 or 302. For example, the product search request may be received bycommunication facility 102 of system 100 and/or by product subsystem202. As described herein, the product search request may specify one ormore search parameters to be used in a product search. The productsearch parameters may include or be associated with image datarepresentative of an image to be used to search a repository of productimage data 116. In addition to an image search parameter, the searchrequest may specify one or more other parameters to be used in a productsearch, including category, keyword, and/or location parameters, asdescribed above.

In step 906, the repository of product data is searched in response tothe search request. Step 906 may include searching a repository ofproduct image data 116, based on an image parameter specified by thesearch request and indicating an image associated with a product, toidentify at least one match to the image. To illustrate, the productsearch request may include or be associated with image datarepresentative of an image of a product. In step 906, search facility108 may search a repository of product image data 116 using the imagedata to identify at least one match to the image of the product.

In some examples, a combination of search parameters may be used tosearch a repository of product data in step 906. For example, inaddition to using image data to search product image data 116 for one ormore matches to an image, product category, keyword, and/or locationparameters may be used to search product data. As an example, akeyword-based search, a category-based search, and/or a location-basedsearch may be performed in addition to an image-based search. Forinstance, if an image-based search does not produce any results, anothersearch of product data may be performed based on category, keyword,and/or location parameters. Alternatively, a preliminary search ofproduct data may be performed based on category, keyword, and/orlocation parameters to identify a subset of the products represented bythe product data, and a search of the identified subset of product datamay be performed based on image data. This may help conserve resourcesby first narrowing the product data to be searched based on image data.

In step 908, search results data is generated. For example, searchfacility 108 may generate the search results data based on the match ormatches identified in step 906. The search results data may be generatedby determining at least one product from the match or matches identifiedin step 906 and retrieving product information for the product orproducts from the repository of product data in data storage facility112 and/or from one or more external sources. The retrieval ofproduction information may be performed in accordance with one or moresettings provided by marketers who provided the product data for theproducts.

In step 910, the search results data is transmitted to the access device204 or 302 from which the product search request was received in step904. For example, communication facility 102 and/or product subsystem202 may transmit the search results data to the access device from whichthe product search request was received in step 904.

A consumer associated with an access device 204 or 302 may searchproduct data and be presented with search results data for the search asdescribed above. The consumer may utilize the search results data forone or more shopping decisions and/or operations. For example, theconsumer may further investigate a product listed in the search resultsdata and/or may complete a transaction to purchase a product listed inthe search results data. System 100 may provide one or more toolsassociated with purchase of a product, including automatically providingalerts specifying statuses of product orders.

In certain embodiments, system 100 may be configured to log one or moreoperations and/or events associated with a transaction (e.g., a purchaseof a product). Such log data may be stored and used to ascertainconsumption patterns for consumers, products, types of products,geographic regions, etc. Additionally or alternatively, system 100 maybe configured to log and maintain historical data representative ofproduct search requests initiated by consumers (e.g., keywords used byconsumers), search results data generated in response to the requests,and transaction histories of consumers. System 100 may make suchhistorical data accessible to consumers for reuse.

An operator of system 100 may configure system 100 such that revenue maybe collected for one or more of the services provided by system 100. Forexample, a percentage point on each transaction carried out using thesystems and methods described herein, or a different amount, may bebilled by the operator. As another example, marketers may be billed forhaving product data in data storage facility 112. These examples ofcollecting revenue are illustrative only. Other ways of collectingrevenue may be used in other examples.

In certain embodiments, one or more of the components and/or processesdescribed herein may be implemented and/or performed by one or moreappropriately configured computing devices. To this end, one or more ofthe systems and/or components described above may include or beimplemented by any computer hardware and/or computer-implementedinstructions (e.g., software) embodied on a computer-readable medium, orcombinations of tangibly embodied computer-implemented instructions andhardware, configured to perform one or more of the processes describedherein. In particular, system components may be implemented on onephysical computing device or may be implemented on more than onephysical computing device. Accordingly, system components may includeany number of computing devices, and may employ any of a number ofcomputer operating systems.

In certain embodiments, one or more of the processes described hereinmay be implemented at least in part as instructions executable by one ormore computing devices. In general, a processor (e.g., a microprocessor)receives instructions, from a tangible computer-readable medium, (e.g.,a memory, etc.), and executes those instructions, thereby performing oneor more processes, including one or more of the processes describedherein. Such instructions may be stored and/or transmitted using any ofa variety of known computer-readable media.

A computer-readable medium (also referred to as a processor-readablemedium) includes any medium that participates in providing data (e.g.,instructions) that may be read by a computer (e.g., by a processor of acomputer). Such a medium may take many forms, including, but not limitedto, non-volatile media and/or volatile media. Non-volatile media mayinclude, for example, optical or magnetic disks and other persistentmemory. Volatile media may include, for example, dynamic random accessmemory (“DRAM”), which typically constitutes a main memory. Common formsof computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, flexibledisk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM,DVD, any other optical medium, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EEPROM,any other memory chip or cartridge, or any other tangible medium fromwhich a computer can read.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary computing device 1000 that may beconfigured to perform one or more of the processes described herein. Asshown in FIG. 10, computing device 1000 may include a communicationinterface 1002, a processor 1004, a storage device 1006, and aninput/output (“I/O”) module 1008 communicatively connected via acommunication infrastructure 1010. While an exemplary computing device1000 is shown in FIG. 10, the components illustrated in FIG. 10 are notintended to be limiting. Additional or alternative components may beused in other embodiments. Components of computing device 1000 shown inFIG. 10 will now be described in additional detail.

Communication interface 1002 may be configured to communicate with oneor more computing devices. Examples of communication interface 1002include, without limitation, a wired network interface (such as anetwork interface card), a wireless network interface (such as awireless network interface card), a modem, and any other suitableinterface. Communication interface 1002 may additionally oralternatively provide such a connection through, for example, a localarea network (such as an Ethernet network), a personal area network, atelephone or cable network, a satellite data connection, a dedicatedURL, or any other suitable connection. Communication interface 1002 maybe configured to interface with any suitable communication media,protocols, and formats, including any of those mentioned above.

Processor 1004 generally represents any type or form of processing unitcapable of processing data or interpreting, executing, and/or directingexecution of one or more of the instructions, processes, and/oroperations described herein. Processor 1004 may direct execution ofoperations in accordance with one or more applications 1012 or othercomputer-executable instructions such as may be stored in storage device1006 or another computer-readable medium.

Storage device 1006 may include one or more data storage media, devices,or configurations and may employ any type, form, and combination of datastorage media and/or device. For example, storage device 1006 mayinclude, but is not limited to, a hard drive, network drive, flashdrive, magnetic disc, optical disc, random access memory (“RAM”),dynamic RAM (“DRAM”), other non-volatile and/or volatile data storageunits, or a combination or sub-combination thereof. Electronic data,including data described herein, may be temporarily and/or permanentlystored in storage device 1006. For example, data representative of oneor more executable applications 1012 (which may include, but are notlimited to, one or more software applications) configured to directprocessor 1004 to perform any of the operations described herein may bestored within storage device 1006. In some examples, data may bearranged in one or more databases residing within storage device 1006.

I/O module 1008 may be configured to receive user input and provide useroutput and may include any hardware, firmware, software, or combinationthereof supportive of input and/or output capabilities. For example, I/Omodule 1008 may include hardware and/or software for capturing userinput, including, but not limited to, a keyboard or keypad, a touchscreen component (e.g., touch screen display), a receiver (e.g., an RFor infrared receiver), and/or one or more input buttons.

I/O module 1008 may include one or more devices for presenting output toa user, including, but not limited to, a graphics engine, a display(e.g., a display screen, one or more output drivers (e.g., displaydrivers), one or more audio speakers, and one or more audio drivers. Incertain embodiments, I/O module 1008 is configured to provide graphicaldata to a display for presentation to a user. The graphical data may berepresentative of one or more graphical user interfaces and/or any othergraphical content as may serve a particular implementation.

In some examples, any of the facilities described herein may beimplemented by or within one or more components of computing device1000. For example, one or more applications 1012 residing within storagedevice 1006 may be configured to direct processor 1004 to perform one ormore processes or functions associated with communication facility 102,product data management facility 104, user interface facility 106,search facility 108, and/or image matching facility 110. Likewise,storage facility 112 may be implemented by or within storage device1006.

In the preceding description, various exemplary embodiments have beendescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings. It will, however,be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto,and additional embodiments may be implemented, without departing fromthe scope of the invention as set forth in the claims that follow. Forexample, certain features of one embodiment described herein may becombined with or substituted for features of another embodimentdescribed herein. The description and drawings are accordingly to beregarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: automatically providing, bya product marketing system for display on an access device in responseto an image associated with a product being captured by the accessdevice, a graphical user interface including a set of tools configuredto facilitate a user definition of a product search request, the set oftools including at least one of a keyword parameter tool and a categoryparameter tool; receiving, by the product marketing system by way of thegraphical user interface, the user definition of the product searchrequest, the product search request including at least one of a keywordsearch parameter and a category search parameter; searching, by theproduct marketing system, a repository of product data associated withone or more products to identify at least one match to the imageassociated with the product and the product search request, the productdata including product image data representative of one or more imagesassociated with the one or more products; generating, by the productmarketing system and based on the at least one match, search resultsdata comprising product information for at least one product; andproviding, by the product marketing system, the search results data forpresentation to a user of the access device.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising: maintaining, by the product marketing system, therepository of product data.
 3. The method of claim of claim 2, furthercomprising: receiving, by the product marketing system from one or moremarketers, the product data including the product image data.
 4. Themethod of claim 3, further comprising: providing, by the productmarketing system, a marketer interface for access by the one or moremarketers; wherein the product data including the product image data isreceived from the one or more marketers by way of the marketerinterface.
 5. The method of claim 3, further comprising: providing, bythe product marketing system, feedback data to the one or moremarketers, wherein the feedback data is descriptive of a distribution ofthe product data.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the feedback data isdescriptive of the transmitting of the search results data to the accessdevice.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating comprises:determining the at least one product from the at least one match; andretrieving the product information for the at least one product from therepository of product data associated with the one or more products. 8.The method of claim 1, wherein the searching of the repository ofproduct data associated with the one or more products to identify the atleast one match to the image associated with the product and the productsearch request includes: searching, by the product marketing system, therepository of product data using the at least one of the keyword searchparameter and the category search parameter to identify a subset of theone or more products matching the at least one of the keyword searchparameter and the category search parameter; and searching, by theproduct marketing system, a subset of the product image data that isassociated with the subset of the one or more products matching the atleast one of the keyword search parameter and the category searchparameter to identify at least one match to the image associated withthe product.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the user of the accessdevice is a subscriber to a service provided by the product marketingsystem.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of theproduct image data represents a three-dimensional view of each productincluded in the one or more products.
 11. The method of claim 1, whereinthe product image data includes a plurality of images representing aplurality of different views of each product included in the one or moreproducts.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the searching comprises:analyzing the image data representative of the image associated with theproduct as compared to the product image data; and determining, based onthe analysis, whether the product image data includes the at least onematch to the image associated with the product.
 13. The method of claim1, wherein: the access device comprises a mobile phone device having acamera; and the image associated with the product comprises a photographof the product captured by the camera of the mobile phone device. 14.The method of claim 1, embodied as computer-executable instructions onat least one tangible computer-readable medium.
 15. A method comprising:automatically displaying, by an access device in response to an imageassociated with a product being captured by the access device, agraphical user interface including at least one of a keyword parametertool and a category parameter tool configured to facilitate definitionof a product search request by a user of the access device; receiving,by the access device, the definition of the product search request fromthe user via the graphical user interface, wherein the product searchrequest includes at least one of a keyword and a product category;transmitting, by the access device, data representative of the productsearch request and image data representative of the image associatedwith the product to a product marketing server subsystem for use by theproduct marketing server subsystem in searching a repository of productdata to identify at least one match to the image associated with theproduct and the at least one of the keyword and the product category;receiving, by the access device, product search results data from theproduct marketing server subsystem, the product search results dataincluding product information for at least one product associated withthe at least one match to the image associated with the product and theat least one of the keyword and the product category; and presenting, bythe access device, the product search results data for consideration bythe user of the access device.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein thekeyword is received by way of the keyword parameter tool and the productcategory is received by way of the category parameter tool.
 17. Themethod of claim 15, further comprising: receiving, by the productmarketing server subsystem from the access device, the datarepresentative of the product search request and the image datarepresentative of the image associated with the product; searching, bythe product marketing server subsystem and in response to the receipt ofthe data representative of the product search request and the image datarepresentative of the image associated with the product, product imagedata in the repository of product data to identify the at least onematch to the image associated with the product and the at least one ofthe keyword and the product category; generating, by the productmarketing server subsystem and based on the at least one match, theproduct search results data comprising the product information for theat least one product; and transmitting, by the product marketing serversubsystem, the product search results data to the access device.
 18. Themethod of claim 15, embodied as computer-executable instructions on atleast one tangible computer-readable medium.
 19. A system comprising: auser interface facility configured to automatically provide, for displayon a user access device in response to an image associated with aproduct being captured by the user access device, a graphical userinterface including a set of tools configured to facilitate a userdefinition of a product search request, the set of tools including atleast one of a keyword parameter tool and a category parameter tool; anda search facility configured to receive, by way of the graphical userinterface, the user definition of the product search request, theproduct search request including at least one of a keyword searchparameter specifying a keyword and a category search parameterspecifying a product category; search a repository of product dataassociated with one or more products to identify at least one match tothe image associated with the product and the product search request,the product data including product image data representative of one ormore images associated with the one or more products, and generate,based on the at least one match, search results data comprising productinformation for at least one of the one or more products represented bythe product data.
 20. The system of claim 19, wherein the searchfacility is configured to generate the search results data bydetermining the at least one of the one or more products from the atleast one match; and retrieving the product information for the at leastone of the one or more products from the repository of product dataassociated with the one or more products.
 21. The system of claim 19,wherein the search facility is configured to search the product imagedata by comparing the image associated with the product to the productimage data; and determining, based on the comparing, whether the productimage data includes the at least one match to the image associated withthe product.